'Crisis not as severe as last summer'

The city is reeling under a worst water crisis in six years, compounded by the monsoons playing hide and seek and the Haryana CM''s reported threat to stop raw water supply to Delhi. Times City spoke to Delhi Jal Board (DJB) CEO P K Tripathi to take stock of the situation.
Q. How is the ongoing tussle between Punjab and Haryana over the sharing of water going to affect Delhi?
I am sure the interest of the National Capital Territory of Delhi would be protected by all concerned, including the governments of Haryana and Punjab.
What if Haryana refuses to stop supplying water to the city?
Most of the river and canal water supply flows from Haryana to Delhi. I am sure Haryana would keep the interest and prestige of the national capital before taking any unprecedented action.
What is the status of Sonia Vihar Treatment Plant?
The Sonia Vihar Treatment Plant can be commissioned in August, 2004, if raw water is made available from any source including Tehri. The Tehri authorities have never refused to release water for Sonia Vihar. However, the delay is because one tunnel has still not been closed and is now scheduled to be closed in September, 2004.
In the recent past, there have been instances of contaminated water supply. Why is it that every summer, such cases take a ten-fold increase?
The main reason of contamination of water supply in Delhi is the practice of installing online boosters. The DJB and the health authorities, including MCD, keep strict vigil on the supply of water and sanitation. The consumers have also to play an important role to ensure that their pipelines, from the ferrule to their houses, are kept in good condition and insanitary conditions are not created in areas adjacent to water lines. DJB is lifting 1,300 samples everyday. The leakages are being plugged and old pipelines replaced. 1,017 km of such pipelines have been replaced.
DJB has said that illegal water tapping has contributed to the present scarcity. What steps have you taken to stop this?
To encourage consumers to take legal connections, the DJB had simplified its procedure of granting water connection. This has led to increase in the legal connections. In case of old illegal connections which are serving large areas, a plan has been drawn up to lay an alternative supply network so that the illegal tappings are removed from the transmission mains. Daily patrolling is also being done by the staff.
With taps yielding a mere trickle, Delhiites'' dependence on groundwater has also increased. But its quality has always been questioned by many.
Groundwater quality is being monitored by CGWA. In case of DJB''s installations, before commissioning the same, DJB gets the quality tested in the laboratory.
How much succcess has the summer action plan yielded this year?
The summer action plan has been quite effective. It cannot quite eliminate the shortage of water but the number of complaints in chronically deficit areas like Vasant Kunj have reduced considerably. The DJB is working on a proposal to ensure round-the-clock water supply in two large pockets of south Delhi. Since this is the first such attempt in any metro, it requires meticulous planning.